nature sustainability Article https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01126-4 A global analysis of violence against women defenders in environmental conflicts Received: 7 September 2022 Dalena Tran 1 & Ksenija Hanaček 1,2 Accepted: 18 April 2023 Published online: xx xx xxxx Women environmental defenders face retaliation for mobilizing against extractive and polluting projects, which perpetrate violence against Check for updates Indigenous, minority, poor and rural communities. The issue matters because it highlights the gendered nature of extractive violence and the urgent need to address the systemic patterns of violence that affect women defenders, who are often overlooked and underreported. Here we analyse violence against women defenders in environmental conflicts around the world. We use data from the Environmental Justice Atlas and employ log-linear and binomial regressions to find statistically significant patterns in displacement, repression, criminalization, violent targeting and assassinations committed against women defenders in extractive conflicts. Statistical results indicate that violence against women defenders is concentrated among mining, agribusiness and industrial conflicts in the geographical South. Repression, criminalization and violent targeting are closely linked, while displacement and assassination appear as extreme outcomes when conflict violence worsens. Women defenders experience high rates of violence regardless of countries’ governance accountability and gender equality. This work contributes to the broader sustainability agenda by highlighting the need to address the impacts of extractive activities on women. Extractivism refers to projects extracting natural resources for expor- Current literature describes a connection between colonial tation1. It is an inherently unequal process often inciting extractivist extractive attitudes, ecocide and genocide of Indigenous peoples, violence, or the institutionalized use of brute force to displace and minorities, the poor and rural communities1. Ecocide typically begins dominate communities for extractive and polluting projects such as with land grabbing, or forcefully dispossessing communities of their mines or plantations. The extractive process frequently involves mili- lands and natural resources. Such usurpation is secured through tarizing communities and assassinating environmental defenders2–4, legal and institutional structures such as land ownership regimes those advocating to protect environmental and human rights5. Such disrupting common law tenure. This colonial control is also rein- violence is typically justified by dehumanizing people and denying forced through covertly and overtly discriminatory ideological and them agency through systematically excluding them from economic, discursive practices2. Ensuing ecological destruction then becomes social, political and cultural activities (for example, through classism, genocidal when causing conditions fundamentally threatening a racialization and gendering)6,7. Extractive violence is also connected group’s cultural and physical existence. More specifically, direct to ecocide, the notion that environmental destruction is criminal and physical violence gives way to indirect forms of extermination has devastating genocidal impacts on affected communities depend- through undermining place-based livelihoods, such as deforestation ent on the health of their environments for physical, spiritual, and causing food instability, pollution causing health impacts3, or struc- cultural wellbeing2. Genocidal outcomes are those exterminating and tural inequalities increasing vulnerability to violence and ecological persecuting groups, assimilating survivors and erasing their culture3. consequences4. Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. 2Faculty of Social Sciences, Global 1 Development Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. e-mail: dalenale.tran@gmail.com; ksenija.hanacek@gmail.com Nature Sustainability Article https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01126-4 2 1 2 1 1 6 2 3 2 45 1 19 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 2 1 1 1 1 1 4 7 1 1 19 WED martyrs (n = 100+ including WED martyrs (n = 100+ including Country Cases (n = 81) Country Cases (n = 81) missing bodies) missing bodies) Philippines 19 26 Costa Rica 1 1 Colombia 7 7 Ecuador 1 1 Brazil 7 11 El Salvador 1 1 Mexico 6 7 Indonesia 1 1 Honduras 5 5 Nigeria 1 1 Guatemala 4 6 Peru 4 4 Papua New Guinea 1 1 Bangladesh 3 3 Rwanda 1 1 India 2 2 Sierra Leone 1 1 Kenya 2 2 United Kingdom 2 2 Somalia 1 1 United States 2 2 South Africa 1 1 Myanmar 2 2 St Lucia 1 1 Democratic Republic 1 3 Ukraine 1 1 of the Congo Thailand 1 2 Spain 1 1 China 1 1 Fig. 1 | Distributions of WED assassination cases by country. N = 81. There has been increasing attention to the ecocide–genocide In this Article, we address the following questions: (1) Where and nexus through environmental defender killings as well as slow violence under which circumstances do WEDs experience different forms of wherein people suffer from long-term environmental harms5–9. This violence leading up to their assassinations? (2) How do structural study contributes an ecocide–genocide–gender connection to such patterns of violence affect women defenders? Log-linear regression literature. Violence against women environmental defenders (WEDs) traced distributions of violence against WEDs across conflict types, is overlooked, and extractive violence is gendered4,10,11. Corporations commodities and impacts. Binomial regression then addressed struc- and states typically concentrate power among men during project tural patterns in countries where WEDs were assassinated. This article negotiations, limiting women’s autonomy and normalizing their contributes global patterns of violence against WEDs. We broaden oppression12–14. WEDs face retaliation because mobilizing defies gender analyses to circumstances leading up to and including assassinations expectations of docility (lack of retaliation) and sacrifice (absorption because ecocide is not limited to killings, but rather encompasses dis- of extractive consequences)15,16. placement, repression, criminalization and violent targeting. Given our Assassinations are the most visible form of direct violence, but statistical approach and the nature of the material, we are aware of the all threats to women defenders are difficult to document owing to potential dehumanization of WEDs’ circumstances and denial of their censorship and a lack of data10. Lacking documentation of violence agency. However, quantitative data analysis using a large, representa- against women especially is also prevalent owing to discursive dis- tive sample is necessary for strengthening arguments that patterns of crimination against women treating the loss of their lives as nor- violence against women defenders found in qualitative, locally focused mal, deserved and ‘ungrievable’17. To address this gap, this article case studies are not outliers, but rather are occurring worldwide. examines 523 cases from the Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas) involving WEDs, 81 of which involve WEDs assassinated for their advo- Results cacy. Routine assassinations of WEDs are not isolated incidences, Regarding circumstances informing WED assassinations, extrajudicial but rather political tactics forcefully making way for extractivism. killings predominantly occurred in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Many Media reports often focus on gruesome details to sensationalize cases were in the Philippines, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico (Fig. 1). Even yet trivialize WEDs’ struggles, often not recording names, let alone in Southern cases, some in Costa Rica, Kenya, Rwanda and Saint Lucia their struggles16. Patterns of extractive violence against women thus targeted Global North expatriates. The data are skewed towards the remain overlooked. Philippines. There were 19 WED assassination cases, more than double Nature Sustainability Article https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01126-4 Displacement Repression Murder 42% of displacements, 46% of repressions, 37% of criminalization, 40% 100.0% Criminalization Violent targeting of violent targeting and 16% of assassinations. Table 1 indicates that violence negatively correlates with Rule of 80.0% 48, 49.0% 47, 48.0% Law and gender equality, and positively correlates with WED presence. 38, 47.5% 45, 45.9% 34, 42.5% 33, 41.3% 21, 41.7% This means that, generally, when there is low Rule of Law, there is an 60.0% 22, 27.5% observed increase in violence. Conversely, with higher Rule of Law, 25, 25.5% 19, 23.8% 21, 21.4% there is a decrease in observed violence. However, cases involving WEDs 24, 16.7% 23, 16.7% 27, 16.7% 40.0% and in countries with low gender equality frequently involve violence 9, 8.3% 20.0% regardless of high Rule of Law. The models show statistical significance for most violence except assassination, wherein positive, statistically 0% significant relationships between gender equality and assassinations Biomass and land Mineral extraction Industrial and utilities suggest that WED assassinations are more common in countries with (146) (186) (24) weak gender equality. Fig. 2 | Log-linear regression. Distributions of violence across conflicts. Forms of violence towards WED across conflict types are indicated on the x axis. The Discussion number and percentage of WED cases reporting a form of violence are indicated Hotspots for violence against WEDs in Latin America and Southeast on the y axis and over each bar. Only those conflict types indicating statistical Asia closely follow global distributions of assassinations of environ- significance with the five forms of violence towards WEDs are shown (P ≤ 0.05). N = 538. mental defenders of any gender18. The distribution does not mean that violence against WEDs is a Global South issue because there were also six assassinations in the United States and Europe. The Philippines was the outlier at 26 assassinations over 19 cases despite an average compared with Colombia in second place. Some Philippines cases were Rule of Law of 0.48 and higher gender equality (0.784). While cases in massacres or serial killings, assassinating 26 WEDs across 19 cases, other countries typically targeted individuals, many Philippines cases whereas cases elsewhere targeted one or two at a time. involved mass violence and serial killings owing to the government Figure 2 shows that the types of conflict with high statistical sig- falsely ‘red-tagging’ defenders as Communist terrorists19. Meanwhile, nificance (P ≤ 0.05) of violence against WEDs were biomass and land, for years, Brazil has been one of the most violent countries for envi- mineral extraction and industrial and utilities conflicts. The distribu- ronmental defenders despite having an average Rule of Law (0.53) and tion of violence throughout biomass and land conflicts (n = 146) was relatively higher gender equality (0.695) scores. Land inequality has that nearly half of all corresponding cases involved repression (41%), been endemic since colonial times owing to power being concentrated criminalization (43%) and violent targeting (48%) of women defenders. among an elite patriarchy openly using violence to deter resistance20. Meanwhile, women defenders suffered a third of the displacement This results in systematic defender killings, which have worsened under (24%) and assassination (28%) in the biomass cases. Mineral extrac- Bolsonaro’s administration brutally silencing defenders21. Post-election tion (n = 186) was similar as WEDs were subject to about half of the violence continues as anti-dam WED Flávia Amboss Merçom, as well repression (48%), criminalization (46%) and violent targeting (49%) as five others, were killed in a mass shooting on 25 November 2022 as well as about a fourth of the displacement (26%) and assassination (ref. 22). As the cases show, women are at the heart of such struggles, (21%). Industrial and utilities conflicts (n = 24) were different in that yet racial, gender and class dynamics multiply their vulnerabilities23. displacement, repression and criminalization were all evenly at 17% WED assassinations in Colombia likewise are situated within a WEDs, whereas 41% of those suffering violent targeting and 9% of those context of insurrections and repression. Despite being a country with martyred were women. an average Rule of Law (0.5) and higher gender equality (0.7), there has In Fig. 3a, slow violence, such as non-assassination deaths or those been a wave of recent assassinations of Indigenous and Afro-Colombian resulting from sicknesses or accidents, was the most serious outcome defenders carried out by paramilitary groups to the blind eye of the inciting women to action in 10% of displacements, 29% of repressions, government since the signing of a ‘peace’ agreement in 2016 (ref. 24). 33% of criminalization, 34% of violent targeting and 20% of conflicts Meanwhile, the National Development Plan promotes foreign extrac- ultimately resulting in assassinations. WEDs were also spurred into tive export while privileging hegemonically masculine identities and mobilizing in response to food insecurity, for which they experienced excluding everyone else25. Consequently, there is typically little to no 15% of displacements, 35% of repressions, 37% of criminalization and intervention in violence against WEDs26. Moreover, in Mexico, in the violent targeting, and 17% of assassinations. Ensuing mental unwellness past two decades, the government has restructured its economy in then afflicted WEDs in 19% of displacements, 39% of repressions, 33% favour of international extractive markets, such as through agrarian of criminalization, 40% of violent targeting and 13% of assassinations. laws privatizing communal peasant-occupied lands for large-scale As depicted in Fig. 3b, social impacts statistically significantly agribusinesses27. The government also enabled a mining boom by lifting affecting WEDs were those reducing their agency and mobility. WEDs foreign taxes and weakening regulations. Meanwhile, narcotraffickers appeared in 38% of displacements, 59% of repressions, 52% of criminali- took advantage of dismantled protections and became involved in envi- zation, 66% of violent targeting and 35% of assassinations. Militariza- ronmental conflicts28. The drug and extractive trades alike enforced tion often enforced extractive development, affecting women in 41% masculinized models of domination and violence, fostering impunity of displacements, 61% of repressions, 53% of criminalization, 60% of for femicides in the EJAtlas cases, as indicated by its declining Rule of violent targeting and 21% of assassinations. Increased corruption was Law (0.44) yet relatively higher gender equality (0.65). associated with WEDs in 28% of displacements, 45% of repressions, 46% Overall, across these countries, authoritarian populism reinforced of criminalization, 47% of violent targeting and 20% of assassinations. existing chauvinism wherein gendered tropes and inequalities incite Specific impacts on women were increased sexual violence from mili- and justify violence against women. These findings align with Le Billon tary or worker camps. This was present in 32% of displacements, 37% of and Lujala29 and Butt et al.’s30 analyses of repression, criminalization, repressions, 35% of criminalization, 35% of violent targeting and 19% of violent targeting and assassinations indicating high concentrations of assassinations. Loss of livelihood was also a common reason informing environmental defender killings in the Philippines, Brazil, Colombia WEDs’ activism, for which they experienced retaliation in 38% of dis- and Mexico. Their studies indicate patterns of repression wherein kill- placements, 40% of repressions, 34% of criminalization, 38% of violent ings are facilitated by impunity for violent land grabbing typically in targeting and 16% of assassinations. Lastly, WED suffered social ills in countries with strong economic incentives to exploit land and natural Nature Sustainability Article https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01126-4 a 100.0% 80.0% 34, 39.5% 34, 38.6% 16, 36.5% 13, 36.5% 33, 33.3% 65, 33.7% 17, 34.6% 51, 32.7% 53, 28.7% 60.0% 38, 19.8% 29, 19.3% 18, 15.4% 20, 13.2% 8, 17.3% 35, 9.9% 40.0% 20.0% 0% Deaths (150) Food insecurity (84) Mental unwellness (193) Displacement Repression Criminalization Violent targeting Murder b 84, 65.6% 106, 60.2% 108, 61.4% 100.0% 76, 59.4% 94, 53.4% 67, 52.3% 103, 44.5% 99, 47.4% 90, 45.7% 62, 45.6% 117, 39.8% 59, 40.4% 80.0% 121, 38.3% 53, 42.1% 73, 41.5% 49, 38.3% 86, 37.9% 58, 36.8% 110, 33.7% 77, 36.9% 45, 35.2% 79, 34.5% 82, 35.1% 49, 31.5% 99, 28.3% 36, 20.5% 60.0% 34, 19.0% 46, 19.7% 32, 15.8% 50, 16.1% 40.0% 20.0% 0% Increased violence, Militarization Increased corruption Specific impacts Loss of livelihood Social problems crime (321) (417) (321) on women (264) (433) (103) Displacement Repression Criminalization Violent targeting Murder Fig. 3 | Log-linear regression. a,b, Distributions of statistically significant forms The number and percentage of WED cases reporting violence and impacts are of slow violence (a) and social impacts (b) for WEDs are indicated on the x axis. indicated on the y axis and over each bar. (P ≤ 0.05). N = 538. resources, marginalization of those dependent on such resources, and equality were average to high, WEDs faced statistically significant levels high corruption levels. We add that, in such countries, dictators have of most types of violence, including in the most violent countries with used such masculinist violence to bolster populist ecocidal–genocidal average to above average scores. agendas31. Gender underlies much of the ecocidal violence against We thus add special attention to women to previous findings29,30,40 WEDs not only in these countries but also worldwide because extractiv- wherein marginalized groups experience high levels of violent repres- ism exterminates community leaders and dismantles previous gender sion regardless of Rule of Law. As the 538 cases showed, WEDs experi- relation schemes. Such cultural erasure and persecution centres power ence high rates of violence despite ‘democratic’ structural and gender in masculinized industries owing to workforce composition, cultures equality. Countries with significant women-led environmental move- of production, and its reliance on exploitation of women’s imposed ments also appear to be no more or less peaceful towards WEDs. Some caretaking roles to compensate for not investing in communities14,21,32. examples are that of unknown women in the women’s war against Indeed, cases in any country involving mining, biomass and indus- Chevron in Nigeria or of Helen Thomas in the anti-nuclear Greenham trialization were the most dangerous for WEDs, but also defenders Women’s Peace Camp in England. These were major women-led move- generally10,33. All mining cases featured high rates of WED displacement ments with significant national and international influence, yet such and repression, backing how such masculinized industries diminish strong WED presence did not make these contexts less dangerous to women’s agencies21. Such is also the case for plantation and deforesta- women. Rather, EJAtlas cases indicate that WEDs killed in contexts tion conflicts owing to gendered, inequitable distribution of land. with strong women-led mobilizations were more often killed in mass Concerning gender-linked counts, of the 3,545 EJAtlas cases, only or serial violence under circumstances with increased armed policing 523 (15%) involved WEDs. Proportions of coverage including women than contexts with less prominent WED leadership. WEDs’ increased may be higher in the EJAtlas than other databases because, during the recognition made them more likely to be seen as threats rather than research process, we reported 147 of these cases, specifically mention- gave them safer platforms to voice concerns. Indeed, crowd violence ing women. Data tracking violence against environmental defenders was the most common way WEDs were killed, in 52 out of the 81 cases rarely disaggregate findings by gender, and there are no established deadly to WEDs. Such brutality extended towards the entire commu- indicators analysing gendered violence in environmental conflicts34. nity because it normalized violence/femicide and justified lacking Women’s mobilizing is often overlooked, and violence against them investigations and prevention. Before the killings, some WEDs faced may not be considered newsworthy. Conflict reporting frequently weeks or even years of death threats discouraging them from incrimi- sidelines women as mothers, other support roles or even residents nating corporations. The distributions of violence across each of the rather than as activists16,32,35. Because women’s lives may also be con- five manifestations almost always approximately follow the same sidered less ‘grievable’17, gendered violence may be routine and under- patterns wherein repression, criminalization and violent targeting reported, and environmental conflicts would not be an exception16,36. typically appeared together at similar rates, whereas displacement Worldwide distributions of killings for defenders of any gender are and murder appeared less often. Displacement and assassination are tracked by organizations such as Global Witness18, and they are nearly less common because they are the more extreme forms of retaliation indistinguishable to Fig. 1 with only WEDs. Given that aggressors kill deployed when repression, criminalization and violent targeting are defenders of any gender37–39, there may be lacking documentation not enough to deter mobilizations. All these more invisible violences rather than a gender disparity of assassinations. However, the other occur over years of conflict, culminating in assassination. As such, forms of violence are statistically significant in association with WEDs, the circumstances were subtly gendered at every stage, including indicating that gender instead influences mechanisms and circum- exposure and vulnerability to conflicts, mobilization opportunities stances leading to deadly violence. Even when Rule of Law and gender and experienced violence. Nature Sustainability Article https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01126-4 Table 1 | Binomial regression than human4,43. Social problems were associated with cases rather than women falling into vices such as substance abuse, domestic violence, Dependent variable: displacement (1) overall model test P < 0.001 gambling, prostitution and crime. Extractive industries’ impoverish- Independent Estimate SE Z P VIF Tolerance ment of communities makes attaining socio-economic criteria for variable (<2.5) (>0.40) manhood difficult. Some emasculated men may engage in social ills, WED 0.374 0.118 3.16 0.002 1.00 0.999 increasing women’s burdens and vulnerability to violence44. Overall, an ecocide–genocide–gender connection is thus appar- Rule of Law −2.736 0.716 −3.82 <0.001 1.14 0.876 ent in how assassinations and extractive violence were situated within Gender equality −3.985 1.087 −3.67 <0.001 1.14 0.875 contexts producing gender-specific vulnerabilities for women defend- Dependent variable: assassination (1) overall model test P < 0.001 ers. Ecocidal dispossession of lands and resources, as many of the EJAtlas cases corroborate, often began upon intrusion of masculinized Independent Estimate SE Z P VIF Tolerance variable (<2.5) (>0.40) extractive industries into communities5. Genocide caused cultural and physical erasure8,45 of peoples standing in the way of extractivism, and WED 0.00296 0.145 0.0204 0.984 1.00 0.997 ecocide further accomplished such erasure through undermining Rule of Law −6.59842 0.911 −7.2464 <0.001 1.07 0.933 women’s agency. As occurred in the deadliest countries towards WEDs, Gender equality 5.53347 1.294 4.2762 <0.001 1.07 0.932 changing land ownership regimes8 used patriarchal ideologies to foster ecocidal conditions (extermination, persecution, survivor assimila- Dependent variable: repression (1) overall model test P < 0.001 tion and cultural erasure)45 emboldening violence in subtly gendered Independent Estimate SE Z P VIF Tolerance manifestations of repression, criminalization, violent targeting and variable (<2.5) (>0.40) assassination. The ecocide of Indigenous peoples across Southeast WED 0.538 0.111 0.523 <0.001 1.00 0.999 Asian EJAtlas cases, for example, has distinctly gendered aspects. Many Southeast Asian Indigenous peoples formerly had alternative gender Rule of Law −4.629 0.665 −6.96 <0.001 1.13 0.887 cosmologies beyond man–woman binaries and with relatively more Gender equality 2.885 1.040 2.77 0.006 1.13 0.886 egalitarian power relations. Colonization goes beyond territorial inva- Dependent variable: criminalization of activists (1) overall model test sion. Consequently, colonization and ensuing extractive land grabbing P < 0.001 brought new legal, administrative and market structures concentrat- Independent Estimate SE Z P VIF Tolerance ing (often militarized) power among men21. We argue that, through variable (<2.5) (>0.40) discrimination and violence, these institutions committed ecocidal– genocidal–gendered violence by exterminating and persecuting Indig- WED 0.686 0.115 5.97 <0.001 1.00 1.000 enous community leaders, erasing formerly egalitarian gender roles Rule of Law −3.931 0.655 −6.00 <0.001 1.14 0.876 and relations, and assimilating survivors into marginalized, binary Gender equality 6.267 1.114 5.63 <0.001 1.14 0.875 and unequal gendered labour and social divisions. Ecocide rewrites WEDs’ histories and bodies as inferior and deserving of extermination. Dependent variable: violent targeting of activists (1) overall model test Ecocidal control of populations2 then occurs as fear of and actually P < 0.001 experienced gendered (lethal) violence not only deters mobilizations Independent Estimate SE Z P VIF Tolerance but also creates impunity as women are less able to mobilize safely variable (<2.5) (>0.40) and openly. Moreover, while most cases do not explicitly report WED WED 0.883 0.114 7.76 <0.001 1.00 0.999 involvement or violence, this reflects representational and mobiliza- Rule of Law −4.529 0.699 −6.48 <0.001 1.13 0.887 tion inequalities. For instance, there is a difference in how Indigenous Gender equality 2.789 1.086 2.57 0.010 1.13 0.887 and non-Indigenous women defenders negotiate and are impacted by extractive violence in different ways4,46,47. Such intersectional differ- Structural patterns of violence towards WEDs. Note: For each nominal variable, reference levels are 1–1 (presence). N = 2,051. SE, standard error. ences exist and should be explored in future work. Methods Given that WEDs experience violence owing to their marginaliza- The EJAtlas (www.EJAtlas.org) is the largest online database record- tion as discussed above, although Le Billon and Lujala33 only find that ing environmental conflict cases in collaboration between activists WED killings closely correspond to numbers of male defender killings, and academics48–50. The process of reporting cases involves four main we argue that it is not how many women are killed versus other genders, stages. The first is identification of a case by either activists, citizens, but rather how women are killed that is gendered. For instance, slow academics or a representative of an environmental justice organiza- violence was intertwined with direct violence. Health impacts including tion, and can be internal or external to the EJAtlas team. The second mental problems, industry-related illness or accidents, and malnutri- stage is writing the case according to established EJAtlas formatting tion were often associated with women in cases with contexts with a and variables. The variables include conflict type (for example, fossil gendered division of labour and thus gendered exposure and sensi- fuels and waste management), commodities (for example, coal, oil tivities to ecological consequences. Either gender’s typical avenues and land), impacted social groups (for example, farmers, Indigenous of exposure to ecological health risks are not better or worse than the peoples and women), forms of mobilizations (for example, street other, just different in how and where they were exposed. Notably, protests and petitions), mobilization stage (for example, preventive, health impacts were not just those affecting women personally, but also once impacts have been felt) and conflict outcome (for example, court consequences their communities suffered. WEDs often mobilized on case decision in favour of groups protesting (or not), assassinations, behalf of family and community, supporting findings from other stud- criminalization of activists, fostering culture of peace, project can- ies4,41,42. Concerning social impacts, militarization, increased violence celled and so on). The third stage is review and feedback between report and crime, and increased corruption were associated with violence author(s), EJAtlas team members and experts knowledgeable about against WEDs because they reflect widespread impunity. Specific the case type, geographical region and/or core themes (for example, impacts on women such as sexual violence during environmental traditional knowledge, public health, gender issues and so on). The conflicts is not only physical, but also reinforces women’s inferior fourth stage is approving the case and publishing it under one of the positions and loss of agency/mobility by marking their bodies as less five editorial members. Nature Sustainability Article https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01126-4 The database has been widely used in research about diverse Table 2 | Definition of variables themes within environmental conflict studies such as global analyses of environmental land defenders, assassinations, and mobiliza- Dependent variables Definition tion types29,33 or regional analyses of colonialism at extractive fron- Assassination (murder) Death of one or more protestors, intentionally tiers40,51. However, using the EJAtlas as a main data source has some caused by a third party. Death can occur limitations. Neither the EJAtlas nor other large-scale databases such on the spot, for example when shooting to death environmental defenders, or be caused as Global Witness cover all existing cases of environmental assassina- following wounds, rapes, tortures and so on33. tions and violence against women defenders. The sample population Displacement Forced or otherwise induced movement is inherently limited to the information publicly available online. of peoples due to the conflictive project or Because reporting on environmental injustices is geographically activity. It includes displacement according uneven, the data throughout the study thus are also skewed, and to resettlement programmes or without any it is unknown how representatively the cases included capture the such scheme. It can be a direct impact of the conflictive project or an indirect, gradual severity and spread of violent environmental conflicts occurring in consequence of it across time33. various countries. The data here represent only a subsample of envi- Repression Threat to subdue or act of subduing protests ronmental conflicts related to assassinations and gender globally. by institutional or physical force. Includes a Some cases are likely to be unintentionally excluded given not only variety of tactics (frequently including violent biased geographical coverage, but also various countries’ disparities and coercive actions, violating rights) taken in reporting paying attention to gender in environmental conflicts. by government, or security staff, militias or corporate actors, to quell dissent and More information is available about gendered violence and WED protests33. killings in Latin America and Southeast Asia compared with Africa. Violent targeting Physical harassment, injuring or Africa indeed remains understudied across all academic disciplines assassinations of specific targeted persons, and databases. Varying political tolerance towards media and aca- usually key activists, or to implant fear to demics documenting attacks means that, depending on region, not defer environmental defenders’ actions. only are there fewer strong networks of contacts, but there is also Examples include violent threats to activists and their relatives, death threats, sexual less ability to speak out without brutal consequences. Disparities in threats, accident attempts and so on33. rural versus urban siting, internet accessibility, language barriers and Criminalization Criminal prosecutions of individuals and local educational attainment also mean there is weaker information abuses of civil and human rights, the opening exchange between existing groups, causing difficulty in obtaining of criminal investigations unlikely to reach regional data. trial used to disarticulate, demoralize and This paper, by reporting and examining global patterns of violence discourage social protest, and the use of disproportionate sentences for offences to towards WEDs, provides novel theoretical contributions by relating punish practices often deployed in protests33. extractivism52 and ecocide–genocide8,45 to issues women face. We Independent variables Definition use recorded variables from the EJAtlas case pool such as country and conflict type to understand contexts and conduct statistical tests WED Women or women’s organizations playing answering the first question of where and under which circumstances a key role in the mobilization against the contentious activity, either because they are WEDs are assassinated (Figs. 1, 2 and 3a,b). Binomial regression analyses affected by specific impacts (health, labour, using other EJAtlas variables such as the specific types of violence and household conditions, sexual exploitation, impact, the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law and the World Economic discrimination or assassination) or because they lead the main narratives of resistance10,33. Forum’s Gender Equality Index, as well as qualitative information drawn from reading the cases line by line were used to answer the second Rule of Law A 0 to 1 ranked index of countries’ question of how WEDs experience structural violence (Table 1). Ecocide jurisdictions maintained by the World Justice Project based on eight factors: constraints on was then used as an analytical frame to better understand the data and government powers, absence of corruption, draw out global patterns. open government, fundamental rights, order Between December 2019 and December 2022, 147 cases wherein and security, regulatory enforcement, civil WED were involved but not necessarily assassinated were collected justice and criminal justice57. by the first author and published in the EJAtlas. WED assassination Global Gender Gap Index A 0 to 1 ranked index measuring gender cases already reported in the EJAtlas were also checked for accuracy, equality across countries maintained by the World Economic Forum according to updated and included in this analysis. A data capture of all 3,545 cases economic participation and opportunity, in the EJAtlas was performed on 31 January 2022, logging variables in educational attainment, health, survival and Microsoft Excel such as WED presence and conflict types, as well as slow political empowerment58. violence and social impacts coded with 1 for the variables’ presence or 0 EJAtlas.org terms Definition for the variables’ absence in the case. We then selected only cases from Biomass and land conflicts Disputes over forests, agriculture, fisheries countries wherein WEDs were assassinated because assassinations are and other sectors directly reliant on natural contextual to each country’s sociopolitical factors29,40 and because it resources in territories with contested land provides a more rigorous comparison if the cases are compared with use33. cases not indicating WED assassinations in the countries. As such, Mineral ores and building Opening and operating mines and countries with WED assassinations, to some extent, had different pat- materials extraction conflicts mining-related harms33. terns than those without WED assassinations. For example, although Industrial and utilities Disturbances from large-scale plants and the Brazil is one of the top countries for defender killings, neighbouring conflicts infrastructures supporting them33. Uruguay does not monitor environmental defender attacks what- Corruption Abuse of entrusted power for private soever53. Although there could be at least a few undocumented and financial or political gain. Here this category unknown cases of WED assassinations there, Uruguay instead has the captures those cases where corruption has been proven and/or condemned by a court reputation of having an ‘open government’ owing to its relatively high judgement or evidenced and documented by levels of government stability and human development compared with mobilizing groups33. other countries in the region54. Nature Sustainability Article https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01126-4 In addition to assassinations, we also selected displacement, 5. Lynch, M. J., Stretesky, P. B. & Long, M. A. Green criminology and repression, criminalization of activists, and violent targeting as con- native peoples: the treadmill of production and the killing of flict outcomes to deepen understanding of contextual, less understood indigenous environmental activists. Theor. Criminol. 22, violence in literature on environmental conflicts and ecocides9,55,56. All 318–341 (2018). five types of violent environmental conflict outcomes were selected 6. Moloney, C. J. & Chambliss, W. J. Slaughtering the bison, from the EJAtlas database following their definitions (Table 2)33,50. These controlling Native Americans: a state crime and green variables were chosen owing to their established use as variables meas- criminology synthesis. Crit. Criminol. 22, 319–338 (2014). uring violence in other EJAtlas works29,30,33,40 as well as their pertinence 7. Goyes, D., Mol, H., Brisman, A. & South, N. Environmental Crime to the ecocidal–genocidal outcomes of extermination (assassination in Latin America: The Theft of Nature and the Poisoning of the Land and displacement) and persecution (repression, criminalization and (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). violent targeting)45. 8. Dunlap, A. The politics of ecocide, genocide and megaprojects: Firstly, each variable was used to calculate percentages of WEDs interrogating natural resource extraction, identity and facing each type of violence. These calculations were based on log- the normalization of erasure. J. Genocide Res. 23, linear regressions performed in Jamovi software 2.2.5, which generated 212–235 (2021). P values and identified statistical significance. Statistical significance 9. Nixon, R. Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor is the likelihood that the variables had a genuine effect on each other (Harvard University Press, 2011). rather than seemed connected by chance. Variables with a P value of 10. Tran, D., Martínez‐Alier, J., Navas, G. & Mingorría, S. Gendered ≤0.05 were interpreted as having a 95% or higher probability that the geographies of violence: a multiple case study analysis of variables had meaningful relationships. Variables that were statisti- murdered women environmental defenders. J. Polit. Ecol. 27, cally significant were used to analyse patterns in gender and violence. 1189–1212 (2020). Secondly, to examine structural violence (Table 1), we performed a 11. Veuthey, S. & Gerber, J. F. Accumulation by dispossession in binomial regression analysis exploring how much increases in Rule coastal Ecuador: shrimp farming, local resistance and the of Law30 and gender equality (independent variables) correspond to gender structure of mobilizations. Glob. Environ. Change 22, increases in each of the aforementioned five forms of violence (depend- 611–622 (2012). ent variables)29,30 for martyred WEDs (factor). Rule of Law is an index 12. Hartviksen, J. 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D.T. was supported by a fellowship from ‘La Caixa’ Foundation org/10.1177/0170840619882955 (2020). (ID 100010434, grant number LCF/BQ/DI19/11730049). K.H. was 38. Hennings, A. The dark underbelly of land struggles: the supported by the ‘Margarita Salas’ Post-doctoral Fellowship. instrumentalization of female activism and emotional resistance Both authors acknowledge financial support from the María de in Cambodia. Crit. Asian Stud. 51, 103–119 (2019). Maeztu Unit of Excellence by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and 39. Park, C. M. Y. “Our lands are our lives”: gendered experiences of Competitiveness and the Balzan prize project (2020). We thank J. resistance to land grabbing in rural Cambodia. Fem. Econ. 25, Martinez-Alier and A. Landau for their endless support as well as 21–44 (2019). valuable inputs and discussions. This article is dedicated in honour 40. Hanaček, K. et al. On thin ice—the Arctic commodity extraction of all environmental defenders putting their lives on the line for justice. frontier and environmental conflicts. Ecol. Econ. 191, 107247 (2022). Author contributions 41. Morgan, M. Women, gender and protest: contesting oil palm D.T. and K.H. contributed equally to the conceptualization and data plantation expansion in Indonesia. J. Peasant Stud. 44, 1179–1198 interpretation. D.T. wrote, edited and selected cases in the EJAtlas, (2017). extracted nominal data from the cases, read them line-by-line, 42. Leguizamón, A. The gendered dimensions of resource performed log-linear regression and was the main writer of the drafts. extractivism in Argentina’s soy boom. Lat. Am. Perspect. 46, K.H. performed the data capture and troubleshooting, designed 199–216 (2019). the statistical analysis and data visualization, performed binominal 43. Sutton, B. Bodies in Crisis (Rutgers Univ. Press, 2010). regression and supervised the drafting and literature review. 44. Angeles, L. Male as “Macho-Machunurin”: bringing men and masculinities in gender and development studies. Kasarinlan J. Competing interests Third World Issues 16, 9–30 (2015). The authors declare no competing interests. 45. Dunlap, A. The ‘solution’ is now the ‘problem:’ wind energy, colonisation and the ‘genocide–ecocide nexus’ in the Isthmus Additional information of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca. Int. J. Hum. Rights 22, 550–573 Supplementary information The online version contains (2018). supplementary material available at 46. Tran, D. Gendered violence martyring Filipina environmental https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01126-4. defenders. Extr. Ind. Soc. 13, 101211 (2023). 47. Tran, D. Beyond women and men: how extractive projects Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to perpetuate gendered violence against environmental defenders Dalena Tran or Ksenija Hanaček. in Southeast Asia. J. Peasant Stud. https://doi.org/10.1080/030661 50.2023.2174853 (2023). Peer review information Nature Sustainability thanks Michael Lynch 48. Temper, L., Bene, Ddel & Martinez-Alier, J. Mapping the frontiers and the other, anonymous, reviewers for their contribution to the peer and front lines of global environmental justice: the EJAtlas. J. Polit. review of this work. Ecol. 22, 254–278 (2015). 49. Temper, L., Demaria, F., Scheidel, A., del Bene, D. & Martinez-Alier, Reprints and permissions information is available at J. The Global Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas): ecological www.nature.com/reprints. Nature Sustainability Article https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01126-4 Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. 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Software and code Policy information about availability of computer code Data collection The data is from EJAtlas (open-source) and was collected manually in Microsoft Excel. Data analysis used Jamovi 2.2.5 For manuscripts utilizing custom algorithms or software that are central to the research but not yet described in published literature, software must be made available to editors and reviewers. We strongly encourage code deposition in a community repository (e.g. GitHub). See the Nature Portfolio guidelines for submitting code & software for further information. Data Policy information about availability of data All manuscripts must include a data availability statement. 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Study description The study is a log-linear regression analysis and binomial regression analysis of 522 cases of environmental conflict violence occurring in countries where women environmental defenders have been murdered. Research sample The research sample is case studies involving violence against women defenders as recorded in the EJAtlas, an online open-source database recording environmental conflicts. The rationale for using the EJAtlas is because it contains detailed case information with a standardized format that makes the data suitable for comparing recorded variables. Sampling strategy Samples were every qualifying case in the EJAtlas during which violence against women environmental defenders occurred. Data collection A data capture was conducted by both authors manually coding variables of interest into binomial factors of 0 or 1 for every single EJAtlas case into a large excel file Timing and spatial scale The data capture was conducted on January 31, 2022 and the manual coding took place over the following 2 months using that day's capture. Data exclusions Cases were excluded if they did not occur in a country where women defenders are murdered. Reproducibility The measures taken to verify reproducibility are that all the data used is open-access from the EJAtlas, where anyone could transcribe the data themselves into excel and run the same simple analyses in Jamovi if so desired. Please see the supplementary information document. Randomization This is not relevant to the study because every single case was considered rather than allocated into groups. Blinding This is not relevant to the study because there were no live human participants. Did the study involve field work? Yes No Reporting for specific materials, systems and methods We require information from authors about some types of materials, experimental systems and methods used in many studies. Here, indicate whether each material, system or method listed is relevant to your study. If you are not sure if a list item applies to your research, read the appropriate section before selecting a response. Materials & experimental systems Methods n/a Involved in the study n/a Involved in the study Antibodies ChIP-seq Eukaryotic cell lines Flow cytometry Palaeontology and archaeology MRI-based neuroimaging Animals and other organisms Clinical data Dual use research of concern